Hair loss is a condition in which for many potential reasons, the hair begins to fall out from the head, as well as other parts of the body. Everyone experiences some degree of hair loss through the natural hair growth and loss cycle, but there are some times when an individual experiences a higher level of hair loss. This can occur for a variety of reasons and can occur within both men as well as women.

Here are some of the common symptoms that can be seen with hair loss:

- Hair falling out while washing, brushing or styling the hair. This is often noticeable while rinsing the hair through the washing cycle and can cause the hair to become noticeably thinner.

- Noticing an unusual amount of hair that is on items of clothing, your shoulder or finding multiple strands of hair around the home

- Noticing large amounts of hair that are present on combs and brushes

- Noticing an appearance of thinning hair through the head. This reduction in the thickness of hair can be caused by a variety of factors.

What are some of the common causes of hair loss for men?

Male pattern baldness is one of the most common causes of hair loss in men. Through this condition, which can affect men through the natural course of aging it is important to take preventative measures, as preventative measures are the most effective way to deal with common male pattern baldness.

What are some of the common causes of hair loss for women?

For women, hair loss is often caused by an imbalance or a significant change in the hormone levels within the body. Hair loss is often common through times in a woman’s life when she experiences these hormone imbalances like pregnancy, post partum and through menopause when hormone levels decrease. One of the most common times for hair loss in women is through post-partum between birth and six months. At this time, the hormone levels within the body are returning to normal and combined with the hair cycle, which slows significantly during pregnancy and therefore hair loss is commonly experienced and many women are alarmed.

Once you have determined the causes of hair loss for men and associated the symptoms you can begin to create a plan which will be used to regulate the body and stop the hair loss from occurring. There are multiple treatment options that can be chosen from when it comes to hair loss and choosing between these various treatments can be easy once you have determined the cause of the hair loss.

There are many treatments that have been designed to treat the symptoms that are associated with hair loss including thinning of the hair as well as baldness. Between treatments that are actually applied to the scalp and treatments that are used to stimulate regrowth of the hair there are many options that are available for men, as well as women when it comes to hair loss.

Breast cancer can be defined as rapid and uncontrolled growth of normal breast tissues resulting into a mass formation. Breast cancer is the most common form of malignant condition in women. But it does not spare the male either. In the US alone, 182 460 female and 1990 male patients were reported as new cases of breast cancer in 2008. What is more disturbing that 40,480 female and 450 male breast cancer patients died during the same year.

According to histopathological (laboratory finding) observation, breast cancer can be classified into several categories. The commonest variety of breast cancer is adenocarcinoma. This type of cancer originates from the glandular tissues of breast, not from the collagen fibrous structures. Origin of cancer is most commonly seen in the small ducts. These are present just below the nipple. The initial stage of breast cancer is defined as Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). Extensive management with surgery and chemotherapy at this stage can cure breast cancer totally. But, unfortunately, less number of patients report to doctor in this early stage.

When the tumor cells are localized in a specific lobe of a breast, the condition is called lobular carcinoma. Some infrequent types of breast cancer can also affect patients. They are medullary breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer, phyllodes tumor, angiosarcoma of the breast (cancer occurring in the blood vessels feeding breast tissue) and Paget’s disease of the nipple.

Breast cancer commonly metastasizes to the axillary lymph nodes of the same side. In later stages, it can spread to other lymph nodes of the opposite axilla and neck, bones (particularly spine), liver and brain.

Breast cancer can occur in members of the same family. But the rate is only 5-10 percent. Researchers discovered two genes – the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, which are associated with familial presentation of breast cancer. If a woman had an acute exposure to ionizing radiation in her childhood, she has a fourfold chance of developing breast cancer. Tobacco smoking, women experiencing early menarche (onset of menstruation) and late menopause, prolong use of oral contraceptive pills are known predisposing factor for breast cancer. Breast feeding can reduce the chance of occurrence. This is the reason, women without having any child have shown more chance for developing breast cancer.

The earliest symptom of breast cancer is an obvious mass in the breast. Of course, all breast lumps are not breast cancer. It is seen that more than 80% cases of breast cancer have been diagnosed after the patient has reported to her doctor after feeling a palpable lump in the breast. Whitish discharge from the nipple which is unlikely to be milk is common. The white discharge can sometimes be mixed with blood. Retraction of nipple on the affected side is common in later stage. There may be redness of the skin and pitting edema over the lump. This is characteristically seen in breast cancer giving an orange skin like appearance (Peau-dè-orange).

Breast cancer can be detected by palpation of the lump, Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of the lump and consecutive PAP staining. Mammography is done to screen a case of breast cancer. It is recommended for every woman to examine her breast after the age of 30 to see if there is formation of any lump.

Earlier, radical mastectomy comprising removal of the whole breast tissue along with the axillary lymph nodes of the same side was done. Now, as there is advancement in the surgical technique, removal of the lump is done (conservative breast surgery). Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy are also advised depending upon the stage of breast cancer.